My Faithful Weber Q


 
Jon Tofte

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
When our family moved to Indiana we had no house to move to due a raw deal by the seller of the house we were ready to close on. (For explanation, see my "Why I Am Moving Post") We didn't know if we would wind up in an apartment or some other place with little or no room for grills. So, I brought a Q100 I had picked up for flip purposes and my well worn CharQ. I figured that if nothing else, I could take either of these to parks or other places until we got a house of our own.

Well, thankfully - yes we are very thankful for answered prayers🙏 - we ultimately did find a nice replacement house. But, most of my grills were left behind in Florida pending a later move of them to here. In the meantime, I have done just fine with my two little Q grills. We had a simple Sunday lunch today: Indiana sweet corn, fresh green beans from my garden and grilled burgers from my Q100. Medium well to well done in temperature but still very juicy:

IMG_5566.jpeg

Never underestimate what a little Q can do!
 
I'm constantly amazed at how great my Q1200 is. I bought my original one on a bit of a whim when I needed it for an event weekend and figured I would use it when we travel with the camper. Ended up i sold my Genesis S-330 and now use my 1200 as my only gas grill. Love it
 
All in good fun, Jon!
Jon Tofte said:
Boy, my poor photography skills are making me the butt of a bunch of jokes! At least the grill marks look good!
Click to expand...
You shouldn't have said anything, Jon...I thought the picture orientation was intentional! I know I looked at them for quite a while before I figured out what was different about them. And I'm sure the meal was every bit as tasty as it looks.

AFTERTHOUGHT: I think the younger generation would call your unconventional picture orientation your "signature move". Beautiful photography, BTW.
 
Last edited:
My burger picture at the beginning is from a Q100 I believe to still have an OEM Weber burner. I can't remember about the chicken on the Q3200. I think it was probably OEM as well. I bought my Qlimetal burner for a Q2200 that is here where I currently am temporarily back in Florida. It lit fine, but maybe I can get a picture from my friend who has it now before I go back north.
 
My Little Q Comes Through Again!

Even though I have finally brought all my grills and projects back from Florida to my new home in Indiana, I have had no time to get any full-size grills up and running. Still working on getting my shop done. So slow...

Anyway, we haven't grilled steaks at home since we left Florida 4 months ago. I did do some at our friends' house in suburban Chicago where we were graciously allowed to camp out for 5 weeks awaiting closing on our replacement house. That was in July on the just refurbished, long-cart Weber Bruce did for me as a gift to our very kind friends. One other reason we haven't done steaks is that my 88-year-old father-in-law, who lives with us, has had serious problems with his teeth. In spite of having numerous teeth removed and a new denture made, he has found no relief and can't chew anything very solid. He resents the $ he spent and is stubbornly unwilling to do any more to solve the problem.

So...we decided it was OK for us to go ahead. All I have at my ready disposal at the moment is my CharQ and a Q100. My wife doesn't like charcoal grilled food, so I went with the little gas Q. I have to say I still cannot get over what a great job that little thing can do. And to think, I used to dismiss the Q series as "camping toys" and not much more. Boy was I ever wrong!

Sorry I didn't take time to orient this picture left to right. I guess it is becoming my trademark, but at least not upside down 😆 .

IMG_5740.jpeg

I still love grilling on cast iron:cool:. Breaking my normal convention using a Q, I went ahead and did the rotation to make crosshatch grill marks. With the tight spacing of Q cast iron that produces an almost overall crust. A pretty good effect from such a small and inexpensive grill!
 
That's a beautiful picture for the Fall season, Jon! I love the Autumn leaves in the background.
 
They sure do an excellent job. Honestly when I grill my steaks an overall crust is what I enjoy FAR more than seeing marks. I have discovered by cutting my steaks extra thick it gives me the opportunity to keep them on longer at lower temps (not low/slow mind you) just lower than the screaming hot so many here are fond of. I give them a VERY generous salt rub just before putting them on (I have tried the dry brine thing and to me it ruins a good steak). Anyway I season them very well with generous S&P (BTW previously I mentioned not using pepper because it would burn at really high temps and I stand by that on thinner cuts), right after drying them thoroughly. They go straight to a well preheated and stable hot grill. They get turned and rotated often. Far more than the pundits say you should. Bottom line I get that thick overall crust that is so sought after, and a nice red (not blue) center, no gray band either.
Had our neighbor over for steaks not long ago and he marveled at how I got that crust. He was ecstatic over it. Anyway nice job on those strips Jon! BTW have you tried grilling over lump charcoal not briquettes? It could be your wife (like me) is sensitive the smell and taste of the binders and fillers in briquettes
 
Thanks, Larry! Yeah, I have done steak on my Big Green Egg (since sold) using high quality lump charcoal. She still didn't like it. She is pretty sensitive to that stuff and gets indigestion from it. She is a gas grill person all the way!

I need to try lump on my CharQ. I haven't had the negative reaction you have to Kingsford, but I use their "Professional" which is definitely a different makeup. I am currently experimenting with B&B. It is another brand that some love and other say smells terrible. I haven't had a strong reaction one way or the other yet. I have some South American lump that I will try sometime soon on the CharQ and give feedback here.

I admit that I like crosshatch sear marks, but those cast iron Q steaks (which still had some reminders of the crosshatch) were, in fact, very good and looked good to me, too. I do agree that as far as taste goes that an overall crust - not a burned up black steak - is better for flavor.
 
It could be that on the BGE which is a more closed cooking environment she tastes some of the combustion products more. I would giver her a go with some good lump and open (true) grilling. I actually like that better myself sometimes. I know one of the things I love about the Wolf is it's extreme performance capability. So sometimes I leave 3 or 4 burners up on blast furnace setting and leave the remainder on the opposite side down on med to low for my "safe" zone. She may actually like it that way better. I know my wife does when I use lump and sometimes when I use the Wolf.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top